Latrobe hires local native, former IBM manager as new city manager

Latrobe Council selected a local native with management experience at New York City firms as the next city manager.

Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to hire John Antinori of Unity, a 1983 Greater Latrobe graduate, for the vacant post, pending agreement on a contract. Councilman Gerald Baldonieri was absent.

City officials declined to disclose the salary proposed for the position.

While none of the more than a dozen applicants had experience in municipal government, council members Jim Kelley and Ralph Jenko said Antinori stood out from two other finalists because of his experience managing other workers.

“We were looking at primarily management skills,” said Kelly. He noted Antinori “has had numerous people underneath him to supervise, hundreds of people. That kind of impressed us.”

His local roots also were a factor in his favor, Kelley said.

Antinori most recently served as director of “total customer experience” at IBM, where he managed a “cross-organizational squad” in redesigning the corporation’s Cloud web presence to increase customer registrations and engagements.

He said he has managed budgets ranging up to $50 million.

“I have a lot of family here,” Antinori told the Tribune-Review, noting he grew up in the village of Crabtree. “After working in New York City for the last 25 years, I was looking to return home.”

He said he sees the Latrobe manager job as a chance to serve the community.

Mayor Rosie Wolford, who later disclosed that Antinori is her cousin, said she participated in the council vote to hire him to “just make it unanimous.” She said she asked Jenko to lead the session when council members interviewed Antinori and to make the job offer to him.

“He impressed us from the first 15 minutes of the interview,” Jenko said.

Wolford expressed hope that Antinori can begin work next week. She noted council has been anxious to fill the city manager position, with city management tasks currently divided among staff in various departments. “We’ve been without a city manager for close to a month now,” she said.

Latrobe also is looking to hire a new public works director.

Both positions were held by Michael Gray, who resigned for personal reasons last month.

Kelley noted Antinori’s experience could help in marketing the city. Through working in New York City, Kelley added, “He’s dealt with some big problems in some big arenas.”

Antinori previously worked on direct-to-consumer digital commerce efforts for E&J Gallo Winery; was part of a New York executive management team for AKQA, a marketing and communications firm; and helped create two computer game start-ups, Paragon Software and Take 2 Interactive.

He also was part of a six-member executive team at R/GA, a digital consulting, technology, design and communications firm. Antinori said he helped grow the company from “a $9 million boutique agency to a $350 million global organization with offices in 13 countries.” While at the firm, he said, he trained and recruited 150 project managers.

Antinori received his bachelor’s degree in English literature at Saint Vincent College and a master’s degree in the same subject at Penn State. He also is certified in IBM teamwork methodology.